India to register entire population using Aadhaar ID: World Bank

About 60% of the world's population remains excluded from the ever-expanding digital economy.

January 14, 2016 15:33 IST

The World Bank on Wednesday said India is on track to register its 125 crore population using its Aadhaar digital ID. This will help the government promote inclusion of disadvantaged groups in its welfare schemes.

"Technology can be transformational. A digital identification system such as India's Aadhaar, by overcoming complex information problems, helps willing governments to promote the inclusion of disadvantaged groups," the World Bank said.

"India is on track to register its entire population using its Aadhaar digital ID," the Bank said in its new "World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends", authored by co-directors Deepak Mishra and Uwe Deichmann.

According to the report, Internet, mobile phones and various other digital technologies are spreading throughout the developing world. However, 60% of the world's population remains excluded from the ever-expanding digital economy, Press Trust of India said.

"Digital technologies are transforming the worlds of business, work and government. We must continue to connect everyone and leave no one behind because the cost of lost opportunities is enormous. But for digital dividends to be widely shared among all parts of society, countries also need to improve their business climate, invest in people's education and health, and promote good governance," World Bank President Jim Yong Kim has said.

"It is an amazing transformation that today almost 40% of the world's population is connected by the Internet," World Bank Chief Economist Kaushik Basu was quoted as saying by the Press Trust of India.

"While these achievements are to be celebrated, this is also the occasion to be mindful that we do not create a new underclass. With nearly 20% of the world's population unable to read and write, the spread of digital technologies alone is unlikely to spell the end of the global knowledge divide," he said.

In East Africa, more than 40% of adults pay their bills using a mobile phone. There are 8 million entrepreneurs in China â€” one-third of them women who can use an e-commerce platform to sell goods nationally and export it to 120 countries.

India has provided unique digital identification to nearly 1 billion people in five years, and increased access and reduced corruption in public services. The World Bank report also noted that digital technologies can promote inclusion, efficiency and innovation.